This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

02/19/2020 06:00 AM

The Riz Quiz: ‘Jane Eyre’ or ‘Pride and Prejudice’?


Elizabeth Williamson, the director of Jane Eyre, who also adapted the novel, says she was attracted to Jane Eyre because “it’s the first novel that is written as an autobiography from a female point of view. So it’ the first time a novelist has a woman speaking directly to the audience and saying, ‘This is what I want out of life, and I’m gonna go get it.’”Photo courtesy of Hartford Stage

The classics are alive and well on stage in Connecticut this season.

A stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was offered at New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre with a run that ended in December. Pride and Prejudice by Kate Hamill, based on the novel by Austen, will run through Sunday, March 8 at West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park.

A new stage version of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, adapted by Elizabeth Williamson, associate artistic director of Hartford Stage, runs through Saturday, March 14.

But with all these period novels of class, romance, and strong-willed women, the characters, narratives, and settings begin to blur. So you think you know 19th-century English classics? Take this quiz, and test your knowledge of literary affairs of the heart. Give yourself one point for each correct answer.

1. The narrative thrust of Pride and Prejudice is about:

A. Matrimony

B. Revenge

C. Sacrifice

D. Reunions

E. Flower arranging

2. Which novel was written first?

A. Jane Eyre

B. Pride and Prejudice

3. The original title of Pride and Prejudice was...

A. First Impressions

B. The Bennett Women

C. The Price of Goodness

D. Girls Just Want To Have Fun

E. There was no previous title.

Jane Eyre was...

4. The original title for

A. Love Never Dies

B. A Love That Burns

C. Becoming Jane

D. Mistress of the House

E. There was no previous title.

5. Which book was published under the pen name Currer Bell?

A. Jane Eyre

B. Pride and Prejudice

C. Frankenstein

D. Wuthering Heights

E. Downton Abbey

6. What were the names of Charlotte Bronte’s two sisters. (Choose two)

A. Emily

B. Elizabeth

C. Anne

D. Penelope

E. Babe

F. Agnes

G. Mary

7. Match the setting with the two books:

A. Thornfield Hall.

B. Gateshead Hall

C. Lowood School

D. Moor House

E. Rosings Park

8. Match the character with either Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, or something I made up.

A. Bertha Antoinetta Mason

B. Miss Scatcherd

C. St. John Eyre Rivers

D. Colonel Fitzwilliam

E. Tulip Fitzwilly

9. In Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester’s wife sets fire to …

A. Her gowns

B. Her marital bed

C. The bed curtains

D. Her poodle

E. Pride and Prejudice

10. Ah, critics. Match the review with the novel.

The criticism “Pre-eminently an anti-Christian composition” was made against which book? _____________

11. Who wrote this about Pride and Prejudice: “a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but...no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck.”

A. Charlotte Bronte

B. Sylva Plath

C. Mary Shelley

D. Virginia Woolf

E. Robert Louis Stevenson

12. What disaster happens toward the end of Jane Eyre?

A. A tsunami

B. A raging fire

C. A car crash

D. A lightning strike

E. A duel

13. A 1950s Broadway musical was based on which novel.

A. Pride and Prejudice

B. Jane Eyre

14. That short-lived musical starred:

A. Barbara Cook, Sidney Chaplin, Hermione Baddeley

B. Polly Bergen, Farley Granger, Hermione Gingold

C. Elizabeth Allen, Richard Kiley, Margaret Hamilton

D. Arlene Francis, Alfred Drake, Spring Byington

E. Beverly Garland, John Raitt, Zazu Pitts

15. Jane Eyre ends up:

A: Married to Mr. Darcy

B. Married to Mr. Rochester

C. Running an orphanage

D. Opening a fish and chips shop in Bath

E. Leaving for America.

16. At the end of Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth marries for…

A. Class standing

B. Money

C. Love

D. Because she is blackmailed

E. She doesn’t marry.

17. Which actor never played the male lead in a TV or film version of Jane Eyre.

A. William Hurt

B. Orson Welles

C. Timothy Dalton

D. George C. Scott

E. Pierce Brosnan

18. Which female actor never played in a TV or film version of Pride and Prejudice?

A. Jennifer Ehle

B. Greer Garson

C. Joan Fontaine

D. Keira Knightley

E. Carey Mulligan

If you got 1 to 7: Go back to that English Lit class

If you got 8 to 13: Better, but did you Google some, hmmmm?

If you got 14 to 21: Impressive, start a book club!

If you got 22 to 27: Jane and Charlotte would have been so proud. Have some tea!

ANSWERS: 1-A; 2-B; 3-A; 4-E; 5-A; 6-A and C; 7A-to D “Jane Eyre,” 7-E, “Pride and Prejudice;” 8A-C, “Jane Eyre,” 8-D, “Pride and Prejudice,” 8-E, Made up; 9-C; 10-”Jane Eyre;” 11-A; 12-B; 13-A; 14-B; 15-B; 16-C; 17-E; 18-C.

Helen Sadler, who plays the title role in Jane Eyre, says, “I admire and relate to a lot of things in Jane. Her spirit is one of her sort of overriding characteristics. She just has this lust for life. So, regardless of everything that’s happened to her, she wants to make her own way in the world.” Photo courtesy of Hartford Stage
Nicholas Robert Ortiz, plays Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice at West Hartford’s Playhouse on the Park. Photo courtesy of Playhouse on the Park
Helen Sadler as Jane Eyre and Chandler Williams as Mr. Rochester, in rehearsal.  Photo by Skylar Agnello/Hartford Stage
Matthew Krob plays Mr. Collins, Wickham, and Miss Bingley in Pride and Prejudice. Photo courtesy of Playhouse on the Park
Jane Bradley plays Mr. Bingley and Mary in Pride and Prejudice. Photo courtesy of Playhouse on the Park